influence of improvised instructional resources on teaching of early childhood development and education literacy skills in kiambaa sub-county kiambu county kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of improvised instructional resources on teaching of Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) literacy skills. This was as a result of limited empirical evidence on the extent and influence of use Improvised Instructional Resources (IIR) on instructional process generally and among ECDE learning specifically. This is particularly important for developing countries such as Kenya with limited financial resources for provision of standard resources. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. A census survey was conducted to collect data from 130 ECDE teachers using questionnaires and classroom observation checklist. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze quantitative data with the aid of SPSS version 25.0 while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Findings indicated that most teachers engaged leaners to interact freely with improvised instructional resources (IIR), the most commonly used IIR being charts and flash cards which are visual aids. Chi-square results χ2(1) = 33.69, p < 0.001 indicated a significant influence of IIR on teaching of literacy skills, Contingency Coefficient measure of association (CC) illustrating a 48.1% variation in teaching of the literacy skills based on use of IIR. The study therefore recommends that ECDE teachers utilize a variety of IIR during teaching and learning of literacy skills to provide multi-sensory learning experiences to the young leaners. Keywords: Literacy skills, Improvised instructional resources and Early Childhood Development and Education.